The New Jersey Devils are in Pittsburgh tonight looking to extend their winning-streak to a season-high of five games.
There is more than just a streak on the line, though, as the Devils are uncomfortably sitting in the 2nd wild card spot with the Penguins just two points behind.
With a regulation win tonight the Devils would gain a little separation, and be four points ahead of Pittsburgh, while a regulation loss would have the Devils unseated from their playoff spot. I don't think that's where the Devils want to leave things heading into the all-star break.
For much of the season the Devils and Penguins relied on excellent goaltending in order to win games. Of late both Cory Schneider and Marc-Andre Fleury have had help as the Devils have scored 13 goals in their last three games, while the Pens have found twine nine times in the last two games, and scored four or more in four of five games.
I doubt both offenses will remain hot against a pair of very good goaltenders. We'll find out soon if that's the case.
LINEUPS Cammalleri - Henrique - Stempniak Blandisi - Zajac - Palmieri Boucher - Josefson - Ruutu Farnham - Gionta - Tootoo
Greene - Larsson Helgeson - Severson Gelinas - Schlemko
Schneider
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Sheary - Crosby - Hornqvist Hagelin - Malkin - Kessel Kuhnhackl - Fehr - Rust Porter - Cullen - Bennett
Maatta - Letang Dumoulin - Daley Pouliot - Lovejoy
Fleury
Notes
1) After a slow start to the season Sidney Crosby has really picked it up of late having tallied 21 points in his last 16 games. He's looked a lot like the Sidney Crosby we're used to seeing under new head coach Mike Sullivan.
2) Joseph Blandisi in seven games since being recalled: six points, +5.2 Corsi For% Rel, +4.8 Scoring Chance For% Rel. He's looked very good but has yet to face the kind of star power the Penguins have. It'll be interesting to see how he stacks up against the best of the best.
3) Cory Schneider is 5-1-0 with a .945 save percentage in his last six starts. Can he keep it going against a Penguins team starting to fill the net like everyone thought they would?
The game is at 7:00 eastern and can be seen on MSG+ and ROOT.
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